perlfunc gods package - declare a separate global namespace <HR> package package NAMESPACE <HR> Declares the compilation unit as being in the given namespace. The scope of the package declaration is from the declaration itself through the end of the enclosing block (the same scope as the [perlfunc:local|local()] operator). All further unqualified dynamic identifiers will be in this namespace. A package statement affects only dynamic variables--including those you've used [perlfunc:local|local()] on--but not lexical variables created with [perlfunc:my|my()]. Typically it would be the first declaration in a file to be included by the [perlfunc:require|require] or [perlfunc:use|use] operator. You can switch into a package in more than one place; it merely influences which symbol table is used by the compiler for the rest of that block. You can refer to variables and filehandles in other packages by prefixing the identifier with the package name and a double colon: <CODE>$Package::Variable</CODE>. If the package name is null, the <CODE>main</CODE> package as assumed. That is, <CODE>$::sail</CODE> is equivalent to <CODE>$main::sail</CODE>. If NAMESPACE is omitted, then there is no current package, and all identifiers must be fully qualified or lexicals. This is stricter than <CODE>use strict</CODE>, since it also extends to function names. See [%linkNodeTitle "perlman:perlmod|Packages", $NODE, "Packages",{anchor=>"Packages"};%] for more information about packages, modules, and classes. See [perlman:perlsub|the perlsub manpage] for other scoping issues. <HR>